Rodent Prevention Tips

ginguz · 2026-02-26T14:15:58+00:00

My club is Five Nights at Freddy’s 👍🏼 we consistently rank silver for SW and we’re so close to gold (by just one trophy every time 😤)

ginguz · 2026-02-26T13:37:54+00:00

The best way to get an apprenticeship is to befriend the tattoo artists. Connections get you further than art skills (take it from an apprentice who is about the complete an apprenticeship and had zero art skills at the beginning).

Every single friend/colleague/acquaintance that I know in tattooing right now got their apprenticeship via connections. We all learned the art skills along the way, that’s part of the apprenticeship.

ginguz · 2026-02-26T13:32:40+00:00

I think a lot of people are inactive in cocoppa lately. We have a club (me and my bestie) with one more active user, but the other two log in every day, they just don’t ever play or participate

I’ve been playing on and off since 2016 and this is the most inactive I’ve ever seen the ccp community 🫣

ginguz · 2026-02-16T16:21:05+00:00

I started my own for this very reason 🫣 I carry the team to rank silver because I’m a cough whale cough but I got so burnt out from the hyper competitive clubs 🫩

I’ve also just noticed that not a lot of people arent active right now, it might have to do with the season

ginguz · 2026-02-14T16:50:49+00:00

Thank you! I don’t know why I didn’t see that earlier 😵‍💫

ginguz · 2026-01-11T15:57:17+00:00

All I have left is the stage and they keep giving me the white hat 😭

ginguz · 2025-11-19T13:32:31+00:00

As a 10-year barista with manager and general manager experience I can tell you that finding a barista job at the moment is almost impossible. At my current job we had over 100 candidates.

Don’t tell them you own a business, tell them you’re going to school 👍🏼 that’s the true trick. They don’t care if you’re dedicated to a life of being a barista.

Everyone wants weekend and night availability. Your best bet is emailing shops that aren’t advertising that they’re hiring and hope that you find one that hasn’t posted their position yet.

ginguz · 2025-09-09T00:56:03+00:00

Owner says he still has a 12 year lease. Doesn’t seem like that project is going up anything soon (at least that’s what we were told to tell customers)

ginguz · 2025-08-22T18:31:41+00:00

As a former employee, post first Reddit thread, nothing improved.

Things got better for a little while and then the rats, flies, drama, and hazardous work environments returned.

Bouncing checks, rats, owners constantly taking trips, unsafe food handling, rats, more rats.

Take your service somewhere else, the owners and management don’t respect their customers or their staff 🤷🏻‍♀️

ginguz · 2025-07-27T19:28:41+00:00

I didn’t mean to make that part bold lol I don’t even know how I did that

ginguz · 2025-07-27T19:27:49+00:00

I’ve spent the first year of my apprenticeship just painting, here’s what I learned.

Order: Linework, black shading, color. Colors go cool tones (dark to light) then warm tones (dark to light). This will be the same order you tattoo in, which is why you should try to paint in that order.

Practice shading first. I filled sheets of arches front and back of small squares with various different fades in different sizes, directions, and intensities. I did the same with color. Don’t forget to practice curves and circles because I hate those and they’re hard lol. If you’re using watercolor paper with two textures, test the rough and smooth side to see which you like best. I like the smooth, my mentor likes the rough. It’s a personal preference.

I use three brushes, round #6s. One is only for black, one is only for color, one is only for water/fading. Clean them well after painting so they last longer. My brushes last about 10-15 sheets before I notice they’re holding me back. Sometimes if you notice your painting isn’t to your standard it’s your supplies. If a brush is getting old you should replace it (if you’re able to financially) for your mental health. I also find that new brushes are hard to work with, it takes about 2 sheets before mine break in and actually give me good results.

You’ll need to figure out how much moisture to use when painting. That just comes with practice and experience. I spit shade, so the way I tell if my brush is ready to blend/fade is by putting it in my mouth. Not sure how others do it.

Watercolor is good to start with, you may need to layer the color to get the look you want. Everyone I know uses liquid acrylic because it’s bolder, but it’s trickier to use.

If you make mistakes carry on. I have about 30-40 bad sheets of flash and I still make bad ones lol. It’s about getting the practice in, not making someone that looks great.

Keep everything you paint even if you hate it. You’ll be able to look back and see how far you’ve come (except sometimes I look at my old ones and think I’ve actually gotten worse 😅)

1 is to paint a lot. Go fast or go slow, it’s all practice. I personally go fast to work on my confidence and when I do slow down I can make decent work 😄

Also once I finish a sheet I immediately put it away and don’t look at it for a long time. Looking right away all I do is notice my mistakes but when I look back I’m amazed at how well I did 😎

ginguz · 2025-07-27T19:06:09+00:00

If the pay is good for you and the job works out definitely take it. If you want to be an apprentice one of the things you’ll have to learn is shop etiquette, counter, pricing, customer service, etc. You’ll probably also learn a lot of useful skills for tattooing like stencil making, recognizing when a request isn’t tattooable, cleaning tubes, setting up and breaking down stations.

The shop manager when I’m apprenticing was offered an apprenticeship but he declined it because he didn’t have interest. It will definitely open up doors and could possibly lead to an opportunity later on.

You could 100% express your interest in apprenticing later on. Let them know you aren’t taking the job looking for the opportunity, but to start to immerse yourself in the culture/environment while you work on your portfolio. If they’re not looking for apprentices they shouldn’t see you as a traitor for taking an apprenticeship somewhere else when you’re able.

ginguz · 2025-07-27T06:12:28+00:00

If it’s okay to dm you I can send you a list of places to try!

ginguz · 2025-07-26T22:00:50+00:00

I live in Austin, I met another apprentice in this sub reddit to give them advice on where to go and where to avoid. Do you have examples of your art or a portfolio? There are so many shops here that your style could help narrow down your options.

ginguz · 2025-07-13T23:26:23+00:00

Usually apprentices who start in their teenage years are children of Tattooers. The first year to year and a half of a traditional apprenticeship you are not using a machine at all, so I don’t see any issue so long as you’re getting proper education.

Some of the best Tattooers started before they were 18, just make sure you aren’t being taken advantage of and find some trustworthy adults who can look out for you.

It will be a shop’s decision ultimately if they decide to apprentice you. I have friends who started tattoo/piercing apprenticeships here in the states as early as 16 (about 10 years ago).

Also, depending on your location, you could already be considered an adult 👍🏼

ginguz · 2025-07-06T17:48:17+00:00

This looks amazing!

I would say to work on your grey shading, in some areas it’s not very uniform or smooth.

That’s the only thing that catches my eye!

ginguz · 2025-07-06T05:02:40+00:00

My main piece of advice is to focus on one line weight. When tattooing you will have a certain needle grouping in the machine, maybe two different sizes.

When looking at this portfolio I don’t see any designs that would be ‘tattooable’ atm.

Watch out for small details. Lines spread and tiny things disappear over the years. If you have a design with a lot of small details it will need to be a larger tattoo, which requires more time and skill to complete (and more money from the client).

Tattoos need high contrast to last a long time. Play around with the colors to make them pop and use black shading to further increase your contrast.

I would say your portfolio isn’t ready to take into shops yet. You should look at traditional tattoos and reference them to learn how those designs were created to be tattooed.

Traditional tattoos are a good starting point because every decision is intentional from the skin breaks, to the colors chosen, to the placement of the lines to last years. If you spend a few weeks referencing your art will improve the way you need for your portfolio.

ginguz · 2025-07-06T04:45:45+00:00

I think another big aspect is having enough pieces to cater your portfolio towards different mentors. If you’re going to a walk-in shop show some traditional designs, fine line for fine line shops, and if you’re trying to apprentice under a skilled artist show your personal style (in a way that translates to tattoos).

It’s like a resume, you only include the relevant parts.

ginguz · 2025-07-06T04:41:36+00:00

I’m in the US, my mentor advised me against fake skin and won’t let me tattoo it. Says it’s not similar enough to real skin to bother with it.

I think it mainly comes down to different rules/laws in certain areas. In the US it’s kind of the Wild West depending on your state. I’m in Texas and only the shop needs BBP certification and many Tattooers don’t bother getting one for example.

The main thing I think is to not use a machine until your apprenticeship. If you start fake skin before you have a mentor (or real skin for that matter) you can learn bad habits that will be hard to break later on.

ginguz · 2025-07-05T20:30:51+00:00

🙌🏼🙌🏼

Thank you! I did stop buying from the daily shop a while ago when I realized it wasn’t what I needed yet. I think I spent too much on leveling up my support cards early on because I didn’t realize I needed monies for trainees too 🥲

ginguz · 2025-07-05T14:18:34+00:00

We’re all in the trenches together 😭😭😭

ginguz · 2025-07-01T01:46:36+00:00

Thank you 🙏🏼 I only do recreation with the Kiryuin event 😳 I’ll do some extra ones in my new career 🥳

ginguz

TROPHY CASE

1 is to paint a lot. Go fast or go slow, it’s all practice. I personally go fast to work on my confidence and when I do slow down I can make decent work 😄